The Arrival of Tanner Morganis
by silentanner90
Summary: An evil force shows up during a tournament as well as the unbeaten American Champion, Tanner Morganis. Will Jaden be able to defeat both so that he can face Yugi? For pics of Tanner's cards, go to photobucket and search their names. Suspended for now.
1. The American Champion

**The American Champion**

"That's game!" Jaden exclaimed. He had just beaten Bastion after using his Dark Neos to defeat Bastion's Water Dragon.

"You win… again," Bastion had never beaten Jaden in a duel, no matter how many calculations he made. "I wish I could one day finally beat you."

"Don't you mean you wish you could finally win a duel?" Chazz, still gloating about his win in the GX tournament, was once again making fun of Bastion.

"I bested you, Chazz, if you remember correctly."

"That was a fluke and you know it. If you think you can beat the GX champ, then why don't we duel? You barely lasted in that tournament."

"Come to think of it, I never dueled in that tournament. I gave my medal to you on Sartorious's orders. So fine then, let's have at it!"

At that point, Syrus came bounding in. "You two can duel later! Sheppard says we need to go to the auditorium for an important assembly. Alexis, Atticus, and Hassleberry are saving seats for us."

Jaden was intrigued by this. As they were walking, Jaden asked Syrus "I wonder if he is picking the duelist for the graduation duel, like with Zane last year. I bet it will be Atticus. I hope he picks me as his opponent."

Syrus responded. "He will probably pick Alexis. Or maybe Chazz. They seem to be on good terms."

Chazz laughed. "He'll obviously pick me! I'm the best this school has to offer!"

"Yeah right," Bastion muttered.

Chazz turned around. "Ya got somethin' to say, Einstein?"

"No, but I'd rather be compared to _Eisenstein_. He's not only a physicist, but a duelist as well."

"Whatever."

By this time, the four had reached their seats. Sure enough, there were four empty seats behind their other friends.

Sheppard began speaking soon after. "Today is a very important day. I thought that it would be fun to challenge my students in any way possible. Therefore, Mr. Kaiba, the owner of this academy is here to speak to you. He will explain everything."

Seto Kaiba, a well-known figure, walked to the middle of the stage. "Alright kids, here is what's going to happen. I don't think the GX tournament was challenging enough for you, so I'm holding a new tournament, but am stepping it up a notch. Not only will pros be included, but also great duelists from the past. Four of them are here today. First is me, Seto Kaiba. The second is the creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus. Here he comes now." The even more well-known Pegasus walked up. "Third and fourth are Joey Wheeler and the King of Games, Yugi Moto. Here they come." Joey and Yugi walked in to incessant cheering. "Now then, the tournament begins tomorrow. Everything will be explained then. See you tomorrow." Kaiba and the others walked off stage.

Sheppard thanked Kaiba and began again. "I will now introduce two guests of my own. One is someone you all know. Come on in, Aster Phoenix!" Aster walked in and waved to Jaden's group, who he had become friends with. "Next is the Pro Champion from America, Tanner Morganis!" A tall teenager walked in and stood next to Aster. Tanner was wearing a black shirt and jacket, along with a cool black duel disk. "Remember to get ready to go to Domino City tomorrow morning. Anyone can win!"

After Jaden and the others left, all Jaden could talk about was seeing Yugi. Everyone else ignored him. Jaden was anxious, so he decided to find Aster and challenge him to a duel. Jaden took along his six friends, but was too late because Aster and Tanner were about to duel.

Aster picked up his hand. "I'll go first. I play my D-Hero – Captain Tenacious in attack mode and throw a face down. You're up."

Tanner laughed. "That's it? Watch and learn. I start with my Call of the Silents trap. I pay 500 LP and Special Summon a Silent from my hand. I choose my Silent Mariner. But wait! I can summon another one. And then, using that one's ability, I can summon my Silent Sorcerer. Now I use my Normal Summon. I will sacrifice my Mariners to summon my Silent Dragon!"

Jaden's jaw dropped. "Oh man! Four monsters in one turn! I can't wait to throw down with him!"

Tanner turned towards Jaden. "Don't worry. More monsters are coming soon. Now then. Silent Sorcerer attacks your Tenacious!"

"Not so fast! I activate my D-Counter! Your monster is destroyed!"

"I don't really care. All I needed was for it to attack. Because now I can summon another one from my deck! This one attacks your monster, and then I summon my third one! You lose 800 LP, plus another 4600 from these other two monsters. That'd be what I like to call game. It's over."

Aster was dumbfounded. "What. Just. Happened."

Chazz was cracking up. "He decimated you. That's what happened."

As Tanner was walking out, he turned to Jaden. "If you're so anxious to duel me, you'll have to wait for the tournament."

Jaden couldn't believe what he had seen, so all he said was this: "Nice catch phrase!"

Hassleberry turned to Syrus. "Sam Hill, Truesdale! I think serge might be in over his head this time."

Alexis agreed. "I don't think Jaden will be able to win this tournament, what with Kaiba, Joey, Pegasus, Yugi, and Tanner in it."

Jaden secretly agreed as well.

Aster's Cards Played:

Destiny Hero – Captain Tenacious

D – Counter

Tanner's Cards Played:

Call of the Silents

Silent Mariner

Silent Sorcerer

Silent Dragon


	2. Bastion's Decision

Jaden, Syrus, Hassleberry, and Alexis ran down to see Aster. He was still dumbfounded an hour after losing in one turn to the Pro Champion of America, Tanner Morganis.

"I can't…it's…I mean…he…destroyed…my…I am a Pro League Champion!"

Jaden was bubbly as usual. "Why don't we duel to get your spirits up?"

"I can't duel anymore, J. I'm giving up."

"Don't say that Aster! What you should be doing is dueling me to improve your skills and take him down in the tournament. That's what I want to do, even if I think I can't beat him." He muttered the last part.

Bastion walked up onto the arena. "Maybe Aster will realize how cool dueling is if he watches me beat Chazz."

Chazz agreed, but mostly because he wanted to duel Bastion. "Yeah, weakling, let's go!"

"You're on!"

Jaden looked at Aster. "Come on, Aster. I hafta get you back into the dueling spirit."

Aster looked back gloomily. "Alright, let's go."

The two walked out, as Syrus, Alexis, Hassleberry, and Atticus headed back to the stands to watch the duel.

Bastion drew his cards. "I'll begin. I summon my Oxygeddon in attack mode! I'll set a face down also. You can go."

Chazz laughed. "Time to Chazz it up!"

The others just stared at Chazz. Syrus voiced everyone's opinions: "How pathetic is he?"

Chazz blushed. "Shut up, loser! I bet Alexis, my love, thinks it's cool!"

Alexis just shook head. "Look Chazz, your fan club isn't here to cheer for you, and I'm not gonna either. Bastion's my friend too."

Hassleberry giggled. "Not including the fact that your whole fan club is boys!"

Atticus laughed as well. "True that, Hassleberry."

Chazz was pissed now. "ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!!!! I'm trying to conduct a duel!"

Bastion looked surprised. "If you're conducting a duel, then maybe you should go ahead with your turn."

"Fine. I will. I throw a face down and play Armed Dragon LV 3 in attack mode. Now I attack your Oxygeddon."

"What? Oxygeddon is stronger!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed that he was stronger than my Armed Dragon LV 10!"

"Wait a second. Where did he…"

"When I attacked, I played 500 LP to activate my Super Level Up! trap card. It lets me jump from LV 3 or 5 all the way to LV 10! So now I activate my Armed Dragon's effect! I discard a card, and bye-bye Oxygeddon! Plus, the card I discarded was my Majer, which takes away 1000 LP from you when it's discarded from my hand. So with my attack and Majer's effect, you lose a grand total of 4000 LP! Sayonara!"

"Activate your face down, Bastion!" Syrus yelled.

"I can't. It's H2O Bonding."

Chazz laughed in a conceited way. "You suck, Bastion. You should leave Duel Academy."

"Don't listen to him, soldier!" Hassleberry pleaded.

"No. He's right, chap. I'm leaving Duel Academy. Goodbye, everyone."

"Bastion!" Syrus screamed.

But it was too late. Bastion was gone forever.

Meanwhile, Aster and Jaden were leaving Aster's boat.

"You're right J. Duel Monsters is about having fun, not winning."

"I'm glad you got that, Aster! Hey, look out there. Is that Bastion? Bastion! Bastion! Where are you goin'?"

Bastion did not turn around, so as to hide his tears. He also never answered Jaden.

Aster was bored just sitting there. "C'mon Jaden. He's probably looking for Eisenstein or something.'

"Yeah I guess you're right. Although I wonder if Chazz won or not."

"Look. There's your answer."

Chazz had pulled together his fan club. "Chazz it up! Chazz it up!"

Of course, Chazz was basking in his huge ego. "Who's the best?"

"CHAZZ!"

"Who's the worst?"

"BASTION!"

"Who am I?"

"CHAZZ!"

"LET ME HEAR IT!"

"CHAZZ IT UP! CHAZZ IT UP!"

Aster tripped Chazz, which Jaden though was hysterical. "Alright, that's enough of that."

"Yeah, Chazz," Jaden chuckled. "We should be getting ready for tomorrow's tournament."

"Get ready? The wi-" Chazz began.

"-nner of the GX Tournament doesn't have to train. We know." Aster had completed it for him.

Jaden didn't have the same mindset. "I'm definitely gonna prepare."

Aster was surprised. "Wow, J, that's pretty unlike you."

"Yeah, but this time I think I'll lose," Jaden muttered.

Chazz's Cards Played

Armed Dragon LV 3

Armed Dragon LV 10

Super Level Up!

Bastion's Cards Played

Oxygeddon


	3. Restored Confidence

"_My Silent Dragon attacks your Sparkman!"_

"_I'll activate… nothing."_

"_Then you lose 1400 LP. That's what I like to call game. It's over."_

Jaden woke up sweating. "This is the third time I've had that dream tonight. The duel also plays out the same way every time, but that's probably because I've seen only 4 of his cards. What I'm more worried about, though, is that I'm actually scared of losing. I mean, it's not like I've even scheduled a duel with him yet, and I'm still scared. I'm not even scared of facing Yugi, but I am of facing Tanner. All of this knowing that Yugi could probably cut Tanner down to size in a turn."

"It's not his ability, Jaden," echoed a deep voice.

"Neos?"

"Yes, Jaden."

"What do you mean?"

"I sensed your fear, so I decided to check Tanner out. From what I have gathered, his deck is not complete. He seems to be missing two cards from it, one a trap, one a fusion. The names are Demon's Upbringing and Silent Ultimatum. After this, I went to Industrial Illusions, and the cards were being created, one copy of each. Although I don't know what they do, I sensed an evil force inside these cards. The reason you are scared is because if Tanner activates these cards, he will likely be overtaken by the evil force. Except for the fact that he is undefeated. As long as he is undefeated, he should have a strong enough spirit to fight off the evil. Therefore, you must make sure he wins that tournament."

"Why don't I just steal the cards?"

"You have lost, Jaden. The evil would overtake you."

"How do I keep him from losing?"

"You're going to have to defeat Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba before they have a chance to face him."

"The guy beat Aster in one turn. I think he's okay."

"Can't you see that was a fluke? He drew basically the best possible hand for his deck as of now. No one can beat a duelist like Aster Phoenix in one turn like that more than once. You couldn't, Sartorious couldn't, and even Yugi couldn't."

"But if I'm scared about facing Tanner, how can I face someone like Yugi?"

"You're not scared of Yugi, you said it yourself. Plus, you have to lose to Tanner in the finals, otherwise he'll be taken over."

"Neos, I'm not going to lose to Tanner."

"This force could be devastating, Jaden. You need to lose."

"NO NEOS! I WILL WIN!"

"Good. I got you back into the spirit. Mission accomplished."

"You made that up?"

"Yes, although Pegasus really is making those cards for Tanner."

"Thanks, Neos. I never should've doubted myself."

Syrus had woken up when Jaden screamed. "Who … who are you talking to, J?

"No one, Sy. Bad dream is all."

"Oh, okay. Let's go back to sleep." Syrus quickly fell sound asleep.

"Neos, you still there?"

"Yes."

"Can you create a deck so that I can practice for the tournament?"

"How about I use Tanner's?"

"Okay. This should be fun. I'll start. I play my Avian and throw a face down. That's all."

"I play a face down monster and throw a face down as well."

"Now I'll play a face down defense monster. You can go."

"I'll play my Silent Fiend, which lets me destroy a monster when it's summoned. Your defense is gone."

"That's my Clayman."

"Now then, Silent Fiend attacks Avian."

"I activate Negate Attack!"

"Alright then I end."

"I draw. Yes! I'll play Polymerization to summon Flame Wingman. He attacks your Silent Fiend."

"I pay 500 LP to activate my Silent Camaraderie! Instead, you now attack my defense monster! It's Silent Blocker, so I gain the LP that you lose."

"Then I end."

Jaden: 3300

Neos: 4200

"I draw. Now I play my Silent Machine and switch my Fiend to defense mode. That's all."

"I play my Fusion Gate! Now I'll summon Shining Flare Wingman with 3500 ATK because of the 5 E-Heroes in my grave. He attacks your Blocker."

"I pay 500 LP to activate Camaraderie's effect! You now are attacking Silent Machine!"

"Why would you want to lose LP?"

"Because when my Machine is destroyed, so is the attacking monster."

"Smart move Neos. I guess you can go."

Jaden: 3300

Neos: 2000

The duel continued throughout the night.

Jaden's Cards Played

Elemental Hero Avian

Elemental Hero Clayman

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman

Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman

Fusion Gate

Negate Attack

Polymerization

Neos's Cards Played

Silent Blocker

Silent Fiend

Silent Machine

Silent Camaraderie


End file.
